Entertainment- Screenwriter
Joe Robert Cole is following up his adaptation of the "Black Panther" comic with the lesser-known "Failsafe ." - The Vault Comics title was bought by Netflix and has
Michael B. Jordan attached to produce and possibly star. - Cole told Insider that the coronavirus pandemic has influenced his writing of the project.
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As screenwriter Joe Robert Cole works away at the Netflix adaptation for the Vault Comics title "Failsafe," he's beginning to notice that reality has mirrored the material he's writing because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"It always was touching on some of the things we are currently dealing with, but being in this circumstance certainly has influenced my thoughts about the story," Cole told Insider while promoting his second-career directing effort, Netflix's "All Day and a Night" (available on Friday).
"Failsafe" follows John Ravena, who hunts super-soldiers that are the last of the "Insurgence Program." A decade after he thought his mission was complete, social unrest has led to the resurgence of this special breed of soldiers.
To research the "Failsafe" project, Cole said he's been talking to scientists along with diving into the source material. But as the coronavirus has continued to spread, he said all he needs to do now is look out his window for inspiration.
"You're looking at the news, looking at people hoarding supplies, looking at all the things that put stresses on the world and those filter down to people," Cole said. "For me, I've been willing to use that in the work that I'm doing."
Though Cole didn't go into greater detail, it's likely what he's doing with "Failsafe" will be similar to what he did with "Black Panther." In the Marvel movie, for instance, he and director Ryan Coogler explored themes like African diaspora and the absence of fathers while grounding the story by bookending it with scenes in Oakland.
The "Failsafe" comics, meanwhile, delve into the lack of accountability by the government and a society that is upended due to the emergence of a threat they don't understand — themes that easily could tie into our current pandemic reality.
Cole has been working on the project since Netflix won out in an auction for the property in 2018. He isn't the only comic book heavy hitter involved, either. Michael B. Jordan is attached as a producer and could star as Ravane in the movie. Jordan starred as the villain Killmonger in "Black Panther," which Cole co-wrote with Coogler.
Read the original article on Insider